Far Cry Primal turns out to be really, really good. I don't know if it can hold up in the long run, but it's something really fresh and just different. I think in some ways it uses Far Cry's world design better than any of the other normal shooter games do. What exactly is Far Cry from 3 onwards (I'm not familiar with the first two)? How would you pitch it in a sentence? To me, it would be "going commando in an exotic location fighting man and nature with extreme sports elements." Primal doesn't have the sporty aspect, the wingsuits and parachutes and crap like that, but the premise of being a caveman wandering around the wilderness fighting animals constantly and genociding every Neanderthal you see marries gameplay and theming perfectly.
The resource system is really simple, but it does its job remarkably well. Stuff is always breaking, and it breaks at just the right rate that you can sometimes run out at crucial times and sometimes get a glut, but it's always present as a concern. Need for meat as a basis for all consumables works well for keeping you unga-bungaing. Survivor Mode animals dying works well, animals are just another resource, one dies go find another, ration them.
And the world may have looked like Kyrat from top-down, but the reviews are right, it feels totally different, and is a wonderful bizarre jumble of steep slopes and cliffs and valleys - I think it's probably supposed to be like an area scraped out by a glacier - that feels even bigger because of how you are easily lead to loop back on yourself. Has some stunning views, the Ice Age area is wonderfully bleak and hostile (helped by the heat mechanic, it's punishing) and there's this amazing thing where to get into another region you have to climb a cliff, go through some deep long tunnels, and then finally come out on the other side of the mountain at the top of another cliff. Just fantastic scenery not just from an aesthetic standpoint, but also as gameplay experience. Makes Far Cry 5's map even shittier by comparison.
Only thing I don't like is the mammoths feel clunky and useless compared to Far Cry 4 elephants. But in general, really, really good game.